Culture and Language in Canada

Canada in the Contemporary World Teacher’s Online Resource

Chapter 2: Culture and Language in Canada

Figure 2-1 European territories in North America before 1760 (Page 46)

There was limited contact between the First Peoples of North American and the outside world before the arrival of Christopher Coumbus in 1492. However, there is evidence that the Vikings reached the northern tip of Newfoundland around the year 1000 CE. They named their discovery Vinland. Today there is a UNESCO world historic site at L'Anse aux Meadows commemortating this landing.What type of influence did the Vikings or the Norse have on North America?

Figure 2-2 Governor James Murray (Page 47)

Even though Governor James Murray was was sympathetic to the Francophone majority in Québec, and was responsible for the passage of the Québec Act as an instrument of protection for French Canadian cultural rights, he also successfully argued that the through the Québec Act, slavery in Québec should continue as it existed under the French regime.

Figure 2-3 Sir Guy Carleton (Page 47)

Like James Murray, Guy Carleton was sympathetic toward the French Canadians. He defended Québec successfully during the American Revolution, and helped to settle the Loyalists in the province of Québec after the war. A famous quote of Carleton’s is: “Remain on duty until every man, woman and child who wanted to leave the United States is safely moved to British soil.”

Using Your Knowledge (Page 48)

1. • Lawyer: the Québec Act legislated that French civil law be retained

• Priest: the Québec Act legislated that Roman Catholics were free to practice their religion

• Fur trader: the Québec Act expanded Québec’s border far into the west – to lucrative fur-trapping lands

• Businessperson: a businessperson could continue to conduct business as he/she had before the Conquest – French laws had been retained, as was the French language. The opening up of further trapping grounds to the west would most likely have been profitable to merchants involved in the fur trade.

Thinking it Through (Page 48)

2. The lives of the Iroquois, Huron, and other First Nations were affected by the arrival of French and English settlers in these ways: • They became involved in wars – some became allies of the French, others became allied with the English

• European diseases, to which they First Nations had no immunity, devastated and depleted many populations • Traditional ways of life were lost as First Nations groups became more reliant on the trade goods provided by Europeans • Traditional lands and hunting areas were destroyed or lost as the Europeans expanded their territorial interests

3. Student answers will vary. Encourage the students to support and strengthen their view with an equal number of facts and opinions.

Organize and Understand (Page 49)

4. The Loyalists were colonists in what is known today as the United States, who remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution. Many left the United States during and after the Revolution and resettled in what is now called Canada.

5. Durham suggested that Upper and Lower Canada be united into one colony. The result would be that the Francophones would be in the minority and would have less influence in government. As a result of this, they were concerned that their language and culture would disappear.

Using Your Knowledge (Page 49)

6. Student letters will vary. Have them explore the place of Francophones in the new Dominion of Canada in respect to Canada’s economy and political structure.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 49)

7. Encourage the students to base their research on an equal number of facts and opinions and gather several quotes from each of A.A. Dorion and Georges-Etienne Cartier to strengthen their debate.

Figure 2-4 Lord Durham (Page 49)

Lord Durham was known as ‘Radical Jack’. As a British Whig statesman, he supported many measures of his time: dissenters’ rights, emancipation of Catholics, free trade, universal education, and parliamentary reform.

Figure 2-5 Louis Riel (Page 50)

Louis Riel married in 1881 while in exile in Montana, and fathered three children. He became a naturalized American citizen and was actively involved in the Republican party. The Republican Party was established in 1854 as an act of defiance against the powerful class of slaveholders in the United States. The party founders adopted the name "Republican," echoing the 1776 republican values of civic virtue and opposition to aristocracy and corruption. Why would Riel sympathize with these views?

Organize and Understand (Page 53) 8. a) In 1869 the government of Canada purchased the lands then known as Rupert’s Land, and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson’s Bay Company. The Métis and other inhabitants of the area were not included in the negotiations and were afraid that their way of life, traditions, language, and economic role in the North-West would disappear: this led to the Red River resistance.

After the Red River resistance, many Métis left Manitoba and moved to present-day Saskatchewan. As settlers moved in and the buffalo herds were decimated, their traditional lands and sustenance were lost and the Métis and First Nations in the area threatened force. Clashes between the Métis and the Northwest Mounted Police led to the Canadian government sending troops to the Métis village of Batoche. A four-day battle ensued.

Red River, 1870 Batoche, 1885 Causes: Causes: • Land appropriated by • Decimation of the buffalo government of Canada without herds, largely by the consultations or input from the government of Canada. Métis and people living in the area. • Métis traditional way of life • Land appropriated by disappearing as the influence of government of Canada without the Hudson’s Bay Company consultations or input from the waned. Métis and people living in the area. • Métis fears of losing their • Métis fears of losing their language, culture, and language, culture, and traditions. traditions • Influx of English, Protestant • Encouraged by the perceived settlers. successes of Manitoba Act fifteen years earlier. • Refusal of representation at • Inaction of Canadian Canada’s Parliament. government led to frustration, alienation, and resultant violence.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 53)

9. The term ‘rebellion’, which was the usual one in reference to the armed clashes in Manitoba in 1870, connotes a lawless, open, armed, and usually unsuccessful defiance to an established government – it paints the Métis in a negative and violent light. The term ‘resistance’ refers to the act of resisting; refusal to comply with authority. Resistance is a term which usually has positive connotations.

Figure 2-6 Archbishop Taché. What were his views on the Manitoba Schools Questions? (Page 53)

Taché spearheaded a movement to have the federal government overturn Manitoba’s new laws regarding schools. Taché and his followers took their case to court. In Taché’s view, the new non-denominational schools were a continuation of the former Protestant schools: they were administered at all levels by English-speaking Protestants. Taché died in 1894 and did not live to see the Laurier-Greenway Compromise come to fruition.

Figure 2-7 Wilfrid Laurier. How did he help resolve the Manitoba Schools Question? (Page 50)

Wilfrid Laurier organized several meetings with Premier Greenway of Manitoba in hopes of reaching a compromise in the Manitoba Schools Question. After several discussions a compromise was reached. Many Catholic Franchpones were still opposed to this compromise, and even appealed to the pope of the day. The Pope sent an observer, who concluded, like Laurier, that the compromise was the fairest one possible with so few Catholics left in the province.

Organize and Understand (Page 56)

11. Dalton McCarthy tried to destroy French influence in Canada as a reaction to what Honoré Mercier has done in the Province of Québec: he passed several laws within the province that angered large sections of Canada’s English-speaking population.

Using Your Knowledge (Page 56) 12. Student answers will vary. Ask them to consider that a compromise does not mean that an issue in settled - it merely means that both opposing parties have been placated for the time being.

a) Archbishop Taché – may have been satisfied because public schools with enough Catholic students enrolled could hire people to teach religious education and some French language instruction would be delivered if parents requested it; may have been unsatisfied because taxpayers would not have to support Catholic or French schools. b) Dalton McCarthy – may have been satisfied because taxpayers would not have to support Catholic or French schools; may have been unsatisfied because public schools with enough Catholic students enrolled could hire people to teach religious education and some French language instruction would be delivered if parents requested it. c) Louis Riel - may have been satisfied because public schools with enough Catholic students enrolled could hire people to teach religious education and some French language instruction would be delivered if parents requested it; may have been unsatisfied because taxpayers would not have to support Catholic or French schools. d)

13. a) This would not be allowed: taxpayers do not have to fund Catholic or French schools in Manitoba. b) The students of Greenway High School would have the right to one period of French language instruction per day. Whether or not they had the right to religious education would be based on their numbers in respect to the total student population of the school. There are 93 French Catholic students – how many other students are there? The number of French Catholic students that would constitute a “sufficient number” according to the Laurier-Greenway Compromise would have to be decided by the school board. c) Half of 16 is 8. According to the Laurier-Greenway Compromise, at least 10 or more students who speak French are entitled to French language instruction. The school would not be obligated to offer this to only 8 students. d) The Icelandic and Ukrainian students have the right to have classes instructed in the language of their mother tongue.

Thinking it Through (Page 56)

14. In 1890 the Manitoba government of Premier Thomas Greenway passed laws that eliminated separate Roman Catholic schools. These laws also abolished French as an official language in the province. Both measures angered the Francophone community in Manitoba. They believed that the survival of their French language and culture was at risk of disappearing.

15. The Manitoba Schools Question was important to all of Canada because: • In Québec, people were offended that French was being eliminated in Western Canada. • In 1892, the Northwest Territories (which at the time also included the present- day provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta) also abolished French as an official language. • The federal election of 1896 was centred on the Manitoba Schools Question; it especially divided Conservatives in Québec and Ontario. • The Liberals, under Wilfrid Laurier (a French Catholic), took advantage of the division in the Conservative party, and Laurier became Prime Minister in 1896. • It gave other minority groups in Canada hopes of keeping their languages and cultures alive through the school system by changes brought about by the Laurier-Greenway Compromise • It led to the deeper question of whether French would survive as a language or a culture in Western Canada, which led to the contant struggle for the linguistic and cultural survival of the Francophone minority in Manitoba.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 56)

16. In 1993 The Supreme Court of Canada affirmed that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteed that FrancoManitobans had the right to manage and govern their own of French schools, where numbers warranted. In 1994, Ron Duhamel, a Liberal MP from the Francophone riding of Saint Boniface, said: “For Francophones in minority situations, French language schools are the guarantee of a better future. But, in order for our schools to truly represent our values and our aspirations, it is imperative that the community itself be able to manage those schools.”

Since 1993, a province-wide Francophone School Division has been established for the children of Manitoba residents whose first language learned and understood is French. The school division is comprised of those Francophone schools throughout the province that opt into the division, and is run by elected school trustees to the Francophone school board. French immersion is also offered from kindergarten through grade 12, as well as French as an optional subject within the English program.

17. In addition to English and French, a variety of languages are offered as "languages of study" (similar to French) in schools in Manitoba. Some languages have been offered for many years and others, like Japanese, have recently become popular. Languages offered in Manitoba in the 2004-2005 school year included: Cree, Filipino, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Mandarin (Chinese), Ojibwe, Portuguese, Spanish, and Ukrainian. Since 1979 Manitoba's Public Schools Act provides for instruction in languages other than English or French for up to 50% of the school day.

Figure 2-9 Why do you think many Canadians volunteered to serve in World War I? Why do you think others did not? (Page 57)

Some Canadians felt a loyalty to Great Britain, saw war as an adventure, and/or volunteered to serve because the military offered employment to Canadians who may not have had jobs.

Others did not enlist because they felt to no loyalty to Great Britain, had family responsibilities and did not want to risk death and leaving their families alone left to fend for themselves, and/or did not want to leave Canada to fight in Europe because jobs were available at home because of the war.

Thinking it Through (Page 58)

18. a) Bourassa – he believed that Canada would go in to debt, and no had no obligation to pay for, what he believed to be a British imperialist war b) Bourassa – he believed that Canada owed no allegiance to the British in their European war c) Borden – he believed that French-Canadians were not contributing to the war effort and should be d) Borden – He believed that victory in Europe would come if Canada sent as many soldiers as possible - French-Canadians included.

19. Student charts will vary.

Reasons for Canada to adopt conscription Reasons for Canada not to adopt conscription • The war could only be won with full military help from Canada – that • It would further alienate French- help included French-Canadian speaking Canada from the rest of soldiers. the country. • A duty as the citizen of any country • Conscription was aimed at French- is to fight when called to war. Canadians, who traditionally • Conscription was necessary married younger than English- because French-Canadians would Canadians and therefore had family not join the war effort in Europe responsibilities: it is not right to take otherwise. a man away from his family • It is not fair that English-Canadians unwillingly. (and, especially Aboriginal • Conscripted soldiers (known as Canadians who had no right to ‘zombies’ in World War I) are not vote) volunteered en masse and effective troops because they are French-Canadians did not. forced into the position. • It would ensure Borden votes from • The losses of human life in World English Canada in the next federal War I were devastating: why should election. men in Canada have been forced into a foreign war that has nothing to do with them and their country?

Inquiring Citizen (Page 58)

20. Benefits: as a colony, a land benefits from the mother-country’s trading and military alliances, the mother-country has money, expertise and people to develop a colony’s natural resources; a mother-country will defend a colony in times of real or imminent war. Drawbacks: as a colony, a land may be drawn into wars and conflicts that may not directly affect it; in a bicultural or multicultural colony the mother-country may favour one culture over another, leading to tensions within the colony; a mother-country may follow a doctrine of mercantilism and develop a colony’s natural resource for the benefit only of the mother-country; a mother-country may pass legislation that benefits the mother- country and/or empire and not the colony.

Figure 2-10 Jean Lesage (Page 59)

Jean Lesage is sometimes portrayed as the father of the Quiet Revolution. An important transportation corridor in Québec, was named Autoroute Jean-Lesage in his honour. In 1993, the airport at Québec City was renamed Aéroport International Jean-Lesage and in 2001, a Québec City area provincial electoral district was named after him.

Figure 2-11 St. Jean Baptiste Riots in Montreal in 1968. (Page 60)

On the eve of the 1968 election, Pierre Trudeau was in attendance as the St. Jean Baptiste riots broke out in Montreal. On that day, 290 people were arrested and Trudeau was filmed refusing to take cover or leave the grandstand when the rioters pelted it with rocks and bottles containing paint and acid. The scene was broadcast on Radio- Canada's and CBC's evening news. Many saw it as an open act of courage, and it impressed the voters of the country. The incident contributed to Trudeau’s federal Liberal Party winning a significant majority the next day.

Using Your Knowledge (Page 61)

21. Student answers will vary. Encourage the students to write with clarity and to balance opinions with historical accuracy.

Thinking it Through (Page 61)

22. Problems of the ‘impatient generation’: • Industry and manufacturing in Québec was dominated by an Anglophone minority. • In order to get better-paying jobs, Québeckers had to speak English. • Francophones could not receive any government services in French. • They believed that the survival of French language and culture was threatened.

Changes? • Ensure that all government services were available in French. • Offer better-paying jobs to Francophones by implementing a quota-styled type of hiring. • Legislate that all students in Québec must be educated in the French language. • Take control over the use of the French language in Québec. • Give the province of Québec complete control over the collection and expenditure of taxes in that province.

23. Maurice Duplessis saw no reason to change the ways things were done in Québec; he was content to see Francophones dominating the agricultural industry and Anglophones controlling industry and manufacturing.

Jean Lesage wanted Québec to become its own independent nation with its own culture and language. He wanted Québec to have more political autonomy in order to achieve this.

Figure 2-12 Pierre Trudeau. In what way did his vision for Canada include Québec? (Page 61)

He wanted to develop a policy that would allow all Canadians, regardless of their cultural origins, to live together happily. He believed this would reduce tensions and promote national unity. In order to bridge the gap between French and English Canadians, his government passed the Official Languages Act in 1969, making Canada bilingual across all provinces.

Active Citizenship (Page 62)

Encourage the students to consider real-life scenarios, for their lives today and in the future, where the acquisition of one Canada’s other official languages (French or English) may or may not affect their employability, mobility, and post-secondary education.

Figure 2-13 FLQ activity resulted in the passage of the War Measures Act

In 1965 the FLQ entered into an alliance with a group of African Americans from the United States known as the Black Liberation Front. They were arrested for planning an attack on the Stature of Liberty? What would these two groups feel they have in common? Why would they choose the Statue of Liberty as a target to attack?

Using Your Knowledge (Page 64) 24. a) Parents of Anglophone children may have enrolled their students in French immersion schools because they felt this would open up more opportunities for employability and mobility within Canada when they became adults. b) The Canadian government offered all services in French and English after 1969, and Krista’s grandmother may have taken classes because they were free, in order to keep her job, or in order to seek a promotion in the future. c) After 1969, this became the law. d) Many Francophones in 1969 may have had the ability to speak English; the same might not have been true for Anglophones. The government may been hiring people based on their ability to speak French and English and not their merits for the position. Also people in provinces such as British Columbia and Newfoundland, with large English majorities, may have viewed the policy bilingualism as unfair in their province.

Organize and Understand (Page 64)

25. Trudeau wanted to develop a policy that would allow all Canadians, regardless of their cultural origins, to live together happily. He believed this would reduce tensions and promote national unity. With the passage of the Official Languages Act in 1969, the government wanted to prove to Francophones that they did not have to separate form Canada in order to protect their way of life.

Thinking it Through (Page 64)

26. The October Crisis was was a series of dramatic events triggered by two terrorist kidnappings of government officials by members of the FLQ in Québec. The federal government reacted by invocating the War Measures Act and by deploying the Canadian army in Québec and in Ottawa.

It shocked Canadians because of its violence (Québec labour minister, Pierre Laporte was murdered) as well as the invocation of the War Measures Act in peacetime and the presence of troops in Québec and Ottawa.

27. Student answers will vary. A Francophone outside of Québec (and a minority in his province) may be see the Official Languages Act as an opportunity to preserve his language and culture.

Figure 2-14 Québec premier René Lévesque launches the 1980 referendum campaign with a fiery speech in Ste-Marie, Québec (Page 65)

René Lévesque was the first French-Canadian political leader since Confederation to attempt, through a referendum, to negotiate political independence for Québec. He was a recipient of the title Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honour. The order is conferred upon men and women, either French citizens or foreigners, for outstanding achievements. Why would the French bestow this honour on Lévesque?

Organize and Understand (Page 66)

28. Sovereignty association is a policy that proposes that Québec should be an independent country with strong economic ties to Canada. Most Anglophones are against it. They are appalled that Québec could become a sovereign nation, yet retain economic links to Canada that favour only it.

29. The purpose of the 1980 referendum was to give Quebeckers an opportunity to have the Québec government begin negotiating a sovereignty-association deal with the government of Canada.

Thinking it Through (Page 66)

30. Canadians – Anglophones, Francophones, and Aboriginals – had come to recognize the state of discord and unhappiness with the current state of affairs in the country. Student opinion answers will vary.

31. The changes brought about by the Constitution of 1982 guaranteed equal rights and fair laws for all Canadians, Francophones were guaranteed language rights, and the term “aboriginal peoples of Canada" included the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.

It was not a complete success because Québec never signed the constitutional agreement and Aboriginal peoples had not been invited to participate in the constitutional process.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 66)

32. Student presentations will vary.

Figure 2-15 Brian Mulroney

Brian Mulroney's legacy is a complicated and even emotional one. His Deputy Prime Minister Don Mazankowski said that his greatest accomplishment will be seen as, "Dragging Canada kicking and screaming into the 21st century." Why do you think this is the case?

Figure 2-16 Quebeckers demonstrate in favour of the Meech Lake Accord before the June 1990 deadline. (Page 67) What would prompt Quebeckers to demonstrate in favour of the Meech Lake Accord? What would prompt them to demonstrate against it?

Figure 2-17 Elijah Harper (Page 68)

In 1990, Elijah Harper achieved national fame by holding an eagle feather as he took his stand in the Manitoba legislature and refused to accept the Meech Lake Accord. Find out what the eagle feather reprented.

Figure 2-18 Conflict between the Mohawk people and the Oka villagers. (Page 68)

The Oka Crisis, which began on July 11, 1990, and lasted until September 26, 1990, resulted in three deaths. Olympian Waneek Horn-Miller, a Mohawk from Kahnawake, was behind the lines during the Oka Crisis and was stabbed by a Canadian soldier. She used the experience to empower her and was the co-captain of the Canadian womens water polo team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Figure 2-19 Kim Campbell was Canada’s first female prime minister. (Page 69)

Kim Campbell was also the second woman in history to sit at the table of the Group of Eight leaders; she was the third woman to serve as a head of government in North America; was Canada's first baby-boomer Prime Minister; and she was the first Prime Minister to be born and elected in British Columbia.

Figure 2-20 Results of the 1992 national referendum on the Charlottetown Accord. (Page 69)

Organize and Understand (Page 70) 33. a) The Meech Lake Accord wad rejected because it failed to gain approval in the Manitoba legislature because the accord failed to mention Aboriginal rights. b) The Charlottetown Accord was rejected because it failed to win acceptance in a national referendum. Some English-speaking Canadians believed the accord gave Québec too much, while many Quebeckers felt it did not give Québec enough.

Using Your Knowledge (Page 70) 34. Trudeau: • 1969 Official Languages Act • 1971 federal government policy of multiculturalism • 1982 Constitution Act • 1983 policy for Equal and Affirmative Action

Mulroney: • 1987 Meech Lake conference • 1990 Meech Lake Accord • 1992 Charlottetown Accord Student opinion answers will vary.

Thinking it Through (Page 70)

35. The government of Canada most likely included Aboriginal peoples as part of the Charlottetown Accord negotiations because their absence at the Meech Lake Accord has led to discord and violence.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 70)

36. Student responses will vary. Encourage students to base their responses on both facts and opinions, drawing from events that have passed since 1992.

Figure 2-21 Lucien Bouchard (Page 70)

Lucien Bouchard made many speeches and wrote much about sovereignty for Québec. Critics have claimed that the arguments for Québec sovereignty are optimistic, naïve or unrealistic. Throughout the 1990’s, in a series of letters then-federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion, the leader of the federal Liberal party today, laid out an argument against sovereignty. What do you think his argument centered on?

Thinking it Through (Page 71)

37. Student opinion answers will vary.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 71)

38. As Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, Lucien Bouchard: • Chose not to live at Stornoway, the official residence of the federal leader of the Opposition. • He promised to put Québec's immediate interests first in Parliament. • He fought for jobs and economic recovery in Québec. • Supported the election of the Parti Québécois in Québec and their aspirations of sovereignty. • He led his party on the attack against the federal government's position on the 1995 referendum.

39. Student reports will vary. Since it’s formation in 1968, the PQ has: • Passed Bill 101, which made French the sole official language of Québec. • Passed the Agricultural Zoning Act, drawn up to protect Québec land. • Passed Bill 125 for the management of Québec lands. • Passed Bill 89 which introduced a new civil code and reformed family law. • Passed the Auto Insurance Act establishing a state-run property damage insurance. • Established summit conferences (Sommets de Concertation) that called together interested parties to participate in policymaking. • Created the OSE (Opération Solidarité Économique, or Operation Economic Solidarity); a program of economic stimulus and job support. • Organized and held the 1980 referendum on Québec sovereignty.

• recognize the rights of Aboriginal peoples to self-determination, as long as this self-determination did not affect the territorial integrity of Québec. • balanced the provincial budget by reducing government spending, including social programs.

Active Citizenship (Page 71)

Student answers will vary. The Supreme Court of Canada represents the interests of all Canadians; therefore, having one region – like Québec – leave Canada would be against its role and the best interests for the future of Canada.

Figure 2-22 Inuit leader Zebedee Nungak (Page 72)

The Inuit of the northern third of the province of Québec call their territory Nunavik (which means ‘place to live’ in the Inuktitut language). Of the approximate 11,500 inhabitants of the area, 90% are Inuit. The people of the area want to resolve outstanding land claims and be granted self-government. In August 2007, the Globe and Mail reported that Nunavik would become a self-governing region within the province of Québec.

Figure 2-23 Cree Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come (Page 73)

Matthew Coon Come was a recipient of a 1995 National Aboriginal Achievement award. The awards were first established in 1993 in conjunction with the United Nations declared International Decade of the World's Indigenous peoples. The awards are intended to celebrate and encourage excellence in the Aboriginal community.To be eligible an individual must be of either First Nations, Inuit, or Métis heritage. Additionally they must demonstrate outstanding career achievement, and be a permanent Canadian resident or be Canadian born. Find out what Aboriginal people from Canada have been recognized with this award.

Organize and Understand (Page 75)

40. Québec nationalists want to see Québec gain independence from Canada. Aboriginal peoples, especially in Québec, do not want this.

Thinking it Through (Page 75)

41. Student opinion answers will vary.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 75)

42. Student opinion answers will vary.

END OF CHAPTER 2